Now, those connections could prove valuable as McConnell becomes Senate minority leader next year.

"It's helpful to have him on your side, but it's not dispositive," BellSouth spokesman Bill McCloskey said, explaining that Democrats will take the lead on telecommunications in 2007.

AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon Communications lobbied fiercely this year for GOP-backed deregulatory telecom legislation that stalled due to controversy over its light-touch approach to Internet regulation.

Next year, Democrats are planning fresh bills that would be more regulatory. But they will only control the upper chamber by two seats, meaning Republican support will be needed to fend off stalling tactics on controversial bills.

"It is not going to be that easy to put through legislation [in 2007]," emphasized Ryan Peebles, a GOP lobbyist with the Information Technology Industry Council.

As a result, McConnell and incoming Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., could be key to any telecom negotiations. "Anybody who's in leadership is important to moving bills to the floor," McCloskey said.

BellSouth appears well-positioned to get its telephone calls returned by McConnell, who became majority whip in 2002 after being re-elected to a fourth term with 65 percent of the vote.

The company is his seventh most generous benefactor since 1989, contributing $54,950 through the BellSouth political action committee and employee donations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

In 2004, BellSouth gave $133,000 to the McConnell Center for Political Leadership at the University of Louisville, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. The political studies program was founded in 1991 by the lawmaker, a 1964 alumnus.

AT&T has given $39,250 to McConnell's re-election bids since 1989.

In the 108th Congress, McConnell and Lott each voted with high-tech companies 100 percent of the time, according to ITI. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., had a 58 percent ranking. ITI's voting guide for the 109th Congress will be issued soon.

While Reid is a proponent of Internet regulation, Lott opposed adding such restrictions to a Bell-friendly telecom bill sponsored by Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Lott voted for the overall measure, which the panel approved.

Regarding Internet regulation, McConnell "has heard from constituents on both sides of the issue and is reviewing it -- but has not taken a public position," spokesman Robert Steurer said in an e-mail.

Nevertheless, McCloskey said the lawmaker "has always been very helpful to BellSouth."

Since 1989, AT&T ($40,000) and BellSouth ($38,400) have been the third and fourth most generous corporate donors to Lott, who as minority whip will be the second-ranking Senate Republican. Comcast and the National Association of Broadcasters each gave him $26,000.

Lott had close ties to MCI WorldCom, now part of Verizon, when it was headquartered in Clinton, Miss., and was the state's largest employer. MCI donated heavily to the Lott Leadership Institute at the University of Mississippi.